HAMILTON HARBOUR RAP

Two centuries of use and abuse had made Hamilton Harbour into one of the original Areas of Concern on the Great Lakes. Located at the extreme western end of Lake Ontario it had been home to human beings for 3,000 years. Settlement by Europeans began in the very late 1700s and for the next two centuries saw ever increasing shipping, industrial development and ultimately human and industrial discharges into the bay area.

Two cholera epidemics due to a lack of proper sanitation in 1832 and 1854 were the initail cause for a sewer system being built which discharged raw human sewage into the bay. This continued until the first sewage treatment plant was built in 1963. The first shipping canal which pierced the sandspit separating Hamilton Harbour from Lake Ontario was built in 1827. A second canal called the Desjardins Canal was built in 1837 and it connected Cootes Paradise wetlands which were even further to the west with Hamilton Harbour.

Industrial growth and development including shipping facilities along the water's edge, particularily the southern shore, resulted in infilling of wetlands and removal of shallow inlet areas. Industries also included of course Stelco and Dofasco steel manufacturers and all wastes went into the water and near shore areas. A thriving commercial fishery collapsed in the very early 1900s and even the sport fishery was finished by the 1940s.

From 1985 through to 1988 public consultation and planning was underway for a Remedial Action Plan. By March 1989 the Stage 1 RAP was ready. It encompassed all known concerns from point discharges of industrial pollutants, contaminated sediments and more as well as combined sewer overflows (CSO). These CSOs have long been the bane of municipalities trying to have a method to handle extreme precipitation events. The sanitary sewers and storm sewers have cross connections in order to handle sudden storm events and huge volumes of rainwater. The result is both raw and partially treated sewage being released into the receiving waterways. These problems continue even today throughout Ontario and Canada. Greater infrastructure dollars are the solution to separating storm and sanitary sewers and keeping rainwater out of sewage treatment plants and sewage out of storm sewers discharging directly into our creeks and rivers, harbours and bays.